Cento Camerelle

Above the coast at Bacoli, two superimposed systems of chambers preserve the remains of ancient cisterns that supplied a large villa with water. Known as Cento Camerelle, or “a hundred little rooms,” the complex is also associated by tradition with the Prisons of Nero. Grand Tour visitors left charcoal signatures on its walls, including one dated 1737.

Why it matters

The cisterns reveal the infrastructure behind a Roman coastal villa, whose water needs included gardens and fishponds. The complex has two levels built in different periods. Its association with the villa of Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, known in ancient sources for his fishponds, remains a scholarly attribution supported by underwater investigations in the surrounding area.

What to notice

The upper cistern is a large hall divided into four aisles by three rows of pillars, with barrel vaults and a central light well. Its walls use opus reticulatum with tufa quoins and waterproof plaster. The lower level consists of two parallel corridors crossed by a third; its chambers are cut into tuff and lined with cocciopesto, with low doorways and oblique jambs.

The walls also preserve a later layer of history. Among the charcoal signatures left by visitors is that of the Scottish painter Allan Ramsay, dated 1737.

Context and history

The park describes the oldest nucleus as Republican and the upper level as a later, imperial-period addition. The site has been known since the sixteenth century. Its traditional name, Prigioni di Nerone, connects it with the story in Tacitus of Nero's treatment of his mother Agrippina, though archaeology identifies the structures as cisterns. Bourbon-era excavations opened the chambers, and systematic investigation began under Amedeo Maiuri in 1910. Later underwater surveys traced villa structures from the hill toward maritime installations along the coast.